By hjensen95
I’ve been in Prague, the Czech Republic for a week and so far, I love it. The first few days were, expectedly, a little bit rough regarding transitioning. For example, the time between arriving and starting orientation felt too short, and I was only able to feel settled after a few days when I finally had some down time. However, since I’ve settled in, I feel extremely comfortable with my abroad experience so far.
My first week consisted of orientation at our study center. Having flown in on Sunday evening from the West Coast and having orientation on Monday morning was tiring. Orientation consisted of the typical activities; name games, alcohol/drug safety, academic advising, etc. The orientation lasted for two days and then for the rest of the week we participate in planned internship interviews. A requirement of my program is to intern abroad.
Among other things, the internship element of this abroad program enticed me. What a unique experience to say that I’ve interned abroad? I’ve had three interviews, and I have my next one tomorrow morning, and then we are placed based on the mutual selection. I’ve had many meaningful conversations with my interviewers, many whom are expatriates (used to live in the US). They gave me lists of things they enjoyed doing in Prague and thought I would as well.
For the next two weeks, we have intensive Czech classes every day until we start our regular classes. My learning curve with any language is not the greatest, so, I’m not anticipating these next couple of weeks being the easiest. However, once it’s over it will be extremely helpful to have a bit of Czech to use in different situations. Most people I’ve encountered speak English, however, not everyone. I was very surprised by this, I thought Prague would be like Copenhagen in the sense that citizens are virtually bilingual – but I found this not to be the case.
One thing that I found difficult when I first arrived was the Czech culture. When interacting with Czech people, they tend to be cold and formal at first impression. My program (CIEE) provides each student with an apartment with other American students and a “Czech flat buddy,” who is a student at the local college whose purpose is to help you navigate your new surroundings, especially in the first few weeks. While my buddy” seemed nice enough leading up to the program, I was shocked by her lack of excitement and warmth when I met her. I felt as if I was a bother to her and that I was not welcome. However, after a few days, I realized this standoffishness was more due to cultural differences rather than her personality or manners.
I’m looking forward to my classes here, they all seem very engaging and truly courses that I could only take while abroad. Additionally, I’m excited for visiting various friends throughout Europe who is also studying abroad.